Sparta Battalion

The Sparta Battalion was a 1,000-strong special forces unit of the Donetsk People's Republic that was commanded by Arseny Pavlov from the summer of 2014 to the autumn of 2016 during the Donbass War. The battalion was involved in heavy fighting with the government of Ukraine, including Ilovaisk and the Donetsk Airport, and the battalion was one of the toughest units of the military. In October 2016, the battalion's leader Arseny Pavlov was killed in an IED attack.